Abstract
Some readers may have noticed that with the March 2024 issue of Journal of English Linguistics, the editorial team changed: David Bowie (University of Alaska Anchorage) and Claudia Claridge (University of Augsburg) took over as co-editors. After six years and twelve years respectively, Alex and Peter have stepped away from the helm.
This is both a difficult transition and a necessary transition. It is difficult because we have deeply enjoyed the responsibility of editorship, and we have learned from, and been inspired by, the articles we have worked on during our tenure. We have benefited from tremendous generosity from authors, reviewers, and editorial board members alike; in turn, the journal has benefited from this same generosity. We have invested much time and energy in articles and authors, in the hope that our work would support scholars and scholarship in meaningful ways. We have understood our opportunity to be co-editors as a privilege, and we are proud of the journal and the work we have done together, including our work to bring new voices to the reviewer pool and the editorial board. And we are grateful to have been supported consistently by skillful and dedicated editorial assistants and book review editors.
Nonetheless, the transition is necessary because we recognize that in the desire to keep moving forward, change is a good thing. We increasingly find ourselves wondering if our way of doing things can be improved upon, for readers, authors, and the field of English linguistics alike, yet we are so deep in the busy-ness of the day to day that it is hard to see a different path forward. Academic publishing is in the midst of a sea change. We feel it happening, and we are excited to see where it will lead.
We are therefore pleased that David and Claudia agreed to become the next set of co-editors for Journal of English Linguistics. They have complementary skill sets and areas of expertise that cover the key submission areas for the journal, and we are confident that wherever they take Journal of English Linguistics, it will only benefit from their fresh views, their profound investment in authors, and their deep intellectual engagement with scholarship in the myriad fields that comprise English linguistics.
We thank you for trusting in us during our time as co-editors, and we welcome David and Claudia to the editorship. May their tenure be as incredible and as inspirational as ours was.
